Joe Pankaskie Scholarship

This award was established by Mr. Joe Pankaskie (1924-2005). Joe Pankaskie was born and raised in Kansas. He graduated from Leoville High School in 1942. He served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1946. He entered college on the G.I. Bill® and graduated with a B.S. degree (1949), and then earned a Masters Degree in Entomology from K-State in 1951, studying the movement of the insecticide parathion in cows fed treated forage crops. His first job was for Julius Heyman, in Denver, Colorado. His second job was for Shell Development Co. in Modesto, California, in the farm chemical department. While working for Shell, he saw a need for a full scale research facility in the Midwest to test farm chemicals under real-world conditions. Only one other company in the eastern US conducted such research. So he established Midwest Research Farms of York, Nebraska, in 1963. The company grew to include both domestic and foreign clients. Mr. Pankaskie retired in 1995 and the company continues under new management. Mrs. Pankaskie was a public school Home Economics instructor and has established a scholarship in her name in the Home Economics Department. The kindness and generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Pankaskie, and of their family, in supporting the growth of our students is greatly appreciated!